Sea gulls ruffle feathers in downtown New Bedford

NEW BEDFORD — A few years ago, Seamen's Bethel Volunteer Clifford Roderiques remembers the strangest question he ever got from a tourist: "When do they stop the tape?"

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By ARIEL WITTENBERG

southcoasttoday.com

By ARIEL WITTENBERG

Posted Sep. 1, 2014 at 12:01 AM

By ARIEL WITTENBERG

Posted Sep. 1, 2014 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

NEW BEDFORD — A few years ago, Seamen's Bethel Volunteer Clifford Roderiques remembers the strangest question he ever got from a tourist: "When do they stop the tape?"

"I said, 'What tape are you talking about?' And he said, 'The tape of the sea gulls, it's getting annoying,'" Roderiques recalled Friday. "I said to him 'Turn around, that's no tape.'"

The gulls were lined up along the Whaling Museum's roof.

Sea gulls are a unique urban annoyance for those living in New Bedford. While many cities have to contend with pigeons, the Whaling City also must deal with the gulls, which are larger and louder.

Some, like Roderiques, say they don't mind the white and grey birds, adding they think it adds to the city's authenticity as a working port. Others say the birds are "flying rats," squawking loudly and stealing food.

How you feel about the birds may just depend on whether they have defecated on you or something you own.

Take Sue Gonsalves, for example, who works at the New Bedford Merchant.

She said she doesn't have a problem with the gulls and considers them "part of coastal life."

"If you're an outdoor person you shouldn't have a problem with them," she said. "Then again, if they dumped on my car all the time maybe I'd feel differently."

Amy Moss said she hates the birds for that exact reason.

"Of course I don't like them. I got pooped on," she said.

Moss works at the convenience store across from the Pleasant Street Bus Station. She said sea gull-droppings are the reason she has to wash her car "at least once a week."

"When I go up to the garage, it's feces all over," she said.

Bird droppings are not the only annoying part about the bird.

Michele Fisher, who said she is homeless, said the birds often steal the food she gets off the soup kitchen trucks. A sea gull even bit her once.

"I thought OK, maybe if I feed them some they'll leave me the rest, but it doesn't work," she said. "Don't get me wrong, I like birds, but the sea gulls I can't stand."

Mark Rasmussen, president of the Buzzards Bay Coalition, said his group has installed an elaborate sea gull deterrent system on it's roof to prevent the birds from nesting there. The group not only has a "gull sweep," the likes of which are currently found on boats, but also a sound system that puts out a "barely audible sonic blast" to scare the birds away.

"We go up every few months to change the frequency because otherwise they get used to it," Rasmussen said.

New Bedford Animal Control Officer Manny Maciel said his office gets calls about the birds, particularly in May and June when younger sea gulls are still learning the ropes of downtown.

A few weeks ago, a mother sea gull was so aggressive at protecting her young that she was preventing a group of workers from repairing an air conditioning unit on a downtown roof.

"Our job was to try and maneuver around the young so that they would fly to another roof and the mother would leave the workmen alone," Maciel said.

Even City Hall is not immune. A few weeks ago, a sea gull flew into a mechanical room through an open window and had to be carried out by animal control.

"Most animal controls just have to deal with cats or dogs. We deal with anything, including sea gulls," Maciel said.

At Tia Maria's on North Water Street, Jessica Coelho said she likes the birds and thinks dealing with them is just part of life on the water.

She said people complaining about sea gull feces "is like complaining about going to the beach and getting sand in your toes. Hello?! You're at the beach.

"This is where they live, you can't make them move. We are on the waterfront, what do you expect?"